Vinay is fifteen months old.  He’s fifteen months old and he’s actually quite smart!  I know, I know – every mother thinks the same about her children..  But he really is.  You can read his Report Card here and judge for yourself!

There is, however, one thing that’s worrying me a little…

He’s not talking yet.  He can communicate – but he’s not talking.  

I didn’t really think anything of it – except one particular person asks me (almost) EVERY single day, ‘Is Vinay saying a few words now?’  

Funnily enough, I’ve always reassured Hub, in-laws and parents as to why to he wasn’t crawling or walking yet.  I always told them that he would accomplish x, y or z when he was good and ready and not before; and truly believed it.

Until he was six months old, he made lots of cooing sounds.  Like… a pigeon.  He didn’t do all the usual babbling that my BabyCentre emails said he would *probably* start doing at four months.

After he was seven months old he started making other sounds: ‘inga inga’ ‘eh eh’

He started saying ‘mama’ – but was never referring to me.  And just before his first birthday, he said it again – calling me.  And now – he only says it when he’s ‘in distress’.

He babbles more now, and his range of speech sounds has definitely expanded.  He says things like ‘tikum tikum’, ‘nyen nyen nyen’, ‘brm brm brm’ and other things that make me wonder if he’s speaking Japanese.  

However, none of these is associated with an actual object.  Yet, he is still very capable of making sure everyone knows what he wants.

I’ve heard the: ‘Boys are a bit slower than girls’, ‘My brother didn’t talk until he was three’, ‘He walked first, so maybe he’ll talk a bit later’, ‘All children are different’, ‘He’ll talk when he’s ready’ and ‘I wouldn’t worry, he’s only fifteen months’.

That’s all very well and good.  But what if there *is* a problem?  What if he has some kind of speech delay?  Surely it would be better to ‘catch’ it sooner, rather than later?  And how would I know what to look for?  How does one even *do* a speech and language assessment on a toddler that doesn’t talk yet?

We have lots of playtime everyday, we sing nursery rhymes and do action rhymes, we look at books together *all* the time and read them several times over.  What else can I do?

Apparently toddlers should be saying about twenty words by the time they’re eighteen months.  If he’s fifteen months old and only saying one word (sometimes), shouldn’t I worry?